Read More

Chris' life still hung in the balance as the medical professionals told Sue that he may not survive being taken from the bedroom of their home in Naunton Lane, Cheltenham, to the air ambulance which was waiting nearby.

But he survived long enough for the air ambulance to take him to Bristol Royal Infirmary - where he was put into an induced coma for three days.

Doctors still feared that Chris, 63, would be dead when he was brought out of his coma - close family members were told to get to the hospital in case it was their last chance to say goodbye.

But Chris had survived - and besides memory loss of about six days he suffered no brain damage at all despite his brain being starved of oxygen for so long.

'People need to know about CPR'

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

Now, four months on, Chris is living his life to the fullest as he had before his cardiac arrest.

And he wants everyone to know what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest - as his life was saved by his wife performing CPR on him in the all-important few minutes after his heart had stopped.

"I should be dead, there's no question about it," he said. "There's no medical reason why I should be here."

Chris suffered what is known as "sudden adult death"- which happens to 30,000 people a year in the UK. Only eight per cent survive.

It has happened to the footballer Fabrice Muamba in 2012 and to the musician Tom Petty - who sadly died this month.

Read More

Sue had never done CPR before but was talked through the procedure by the 999 call handler - and that is why Chris is still here today.

Now, Chris wants everyone to know that if someone has a cardiac arrest they should call 999 straight away to be talked through the CPR process.

"People really need to know about CPR," Chris said.

"Someone will fall over in Cheltenham High Street at some point this year - they will have had a sudden cardiac arrest. By the time the ambulance turns up it will already be too late.

"We need to get this message out there there that at every workplace it needs to be something everyone is aware of.

"When you dial 999 the paramedics will tell you what to do. Don't be dissuaded from doing it because you don't know how - 999 operators will how how to talk people through it."

Chris Hickey.

Chris, director of Cheltenham-based human resources company Charlton Associates, was completely healthy and active before his cardiac arrest - and doctors can find no reason why his heart stopped and why it would do so again.

Read More

He has had an ICD- a portable defibrilator - installed in case his heart stops again - and he is still on beta blockers to slow his heart rate down - which make Chris tired.

Apart from that Chris is as full of life as ever - he's back at work full time and plans to take up his hobby of sailing again soon. His doctors have given him the all-clear to do as much exercise as he wants.

Chris said: "I can't quite trust it, even though everyone says my heart is just as strong as it was before. They say there's no reason why it should do that again.

"I'm a 'stuff happens' person. If I have an accident or something goes wrong I wouldn't think "why me?' I don't think like that at all.

"These things happen to people. It's just as likely to happen to me so anybody else. That was my philosophy before and it still is now. I don't have a problem with the fact that this random act should have killed me."

'It was like a bomb went off in our family'

Chis Hickey is part of a campaign group called Reach who are campaigning for full A&E services at Cheltenham General Hospital.

Sue, who with Chris has a 26-year-old daughter - was calm and composed in the eye of the storm and she has nothing but praise for the 999 call handlers who helped her to save her husband's life.

She said: "They were just so clear, and I was so determined to do it..

"I had every confidence with the guy on the phone. It just couldn't be Chris's time.

"There's no magic to it - you just have to do it. The important thing is that it starts straight away."

Read More

But while Chris is on the road to recovery, Sue, 62, is working through the psychological and physical shock of what happened.

She said: "The shock did it when Chris started to come out of the coma.

"It was like a bomb going off in our family - Chris was the epicentre and we're standing right next to him.

"It's like heightened life even though you are next to death. You see the best of life which is loving, caring, giving, supportive, and you see the hardest bits which are death, loneliness, despair. You have to work between those.

"(The stress) is like a tidal wave - that's what I'm dealing with now."